Driving Conditions: Another Reason to Stay Away from SF

Van Ness businesses will prosper--if they can
survive until 2021. (Examiner photo)

As most Californians know, traffic on the venerable north-south Highway 101 is dumped on to the streets of San Francisco because of the freeway revolts of the 1960's, when construction of the freeway through the City was halted.

Your humble blogger does appreciate the aesthetics of not having an overhead freeway blocking the views of the bay, but he also sympathizes with the motorists driving through. One of the major surface corridors is Van Ness Avenue, and the City has finally undertaken the much-needed renovation. Not surprisingly, the project is behind schedule and over-budget.

The $316 million makeover of San Francisco’s Van Ness Avenue is running a year and nine months behind schedule, according to the main contractor, with the completion date now pushed to late 2021.

At the same time, contractors have submitted claims for cost overruns totaling $21.6 million, with more claims likely to come.

The mismanagement of the Van Ness project is not an isolated phenomenon:

Van Ness is the latest big transit project in the city plagued by delays.

The massive Central Subway, which is to run between the Caltrain Station at Fourth and King streets to Chinatown, is a year behind schedule.

The Transbay Transit Center opened months behind schedule after the budget for the huge transportation hub had climbed from $1.6 billion to $2.2 billion.

Public transportation is a viable option for suburbanites whose final destination is close to Market Street. Otherwise, driving conditions, in addition to homelessness, sanitation, and the priciness of everything, are why many of us don't go into the City unless we absolutely have to.